This invention relates in general to a toy projectile and in particular to a rocket-simulating toy projectile which automatically converts to a space platform-type vehicle during flight and which can be launched by a solid grain propellant engine including a thrust charge, delay and separation charge.
With the increased interest now being shown in rocketry and space flights generated largely by the activities of N.A.S.A. in the United States and Russian scientific achievements in satellite launchings and interplanetary flights, there is an increasing amount of interest in toy projectiles which simulate rockets, space vehicles, satellites and space platforms.
There presently exist many toy projectiles which, through various means, are actuated to convert or separate during midflight to produce parachutes, gliders and similar separated units. One toy of this kind is an elastic-launched, rocket-simulating device which opens in mid-air to produce a gyro-rotating type of winged vehicle which, after separation from the rocket simulating vehicle, rotates to produce a slow descent to earth.
It has been found that interest and attraction in a toy vehicle of the type described is a function of the time of flight or activity of that projectile. In other words, the longer a toy of this type can be made to remain airborne, the greater the interest afforded by the toy. Time of flight, especially in an auto-rotative type toy, depends on the weight of the vehicle and the area of air foil presented as a lifting surface. The larger the ratio of area of air foil to weight, generally the longer the time of flight realized in the vehicle. Many of the prior art devices utilize either separate auto-rotative devices ejected from an air frame or air foils which extend from a conventional air frame. In both cases, there is a large amount of wasted weight; in the former, the air frame itself falls to the ground without any flight, and in the latter case, the weight of the air frame, as a non-lifting entity, shortens the time of flight of the vehicle.